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TECH’S IMMIGRATION QUESTIONS SLOWLY GETTING ANSWERED — Lawmakers fueling the flurry of immigration proposals and debate this week are coming to a clear, if imprecise conclusion: High-skilled immigration is a necessary component of the comprehensive package in the Senate. The issue, of course, has long been near and dear to tech companies, so the flood of comments — including from President Barack Obama on Tuesday — about the need to pump more workers toward U.S. tech firms has them smiling wide. And we should know: Your MT-er is being inundated (hey, no complaints here) with supportive statements from top tech execs, firms and groups, both in D.C. and Silicon Valley.

I-SQUARED TO GET WRAPPED IN, SPONSORS SAY — While neither the Gang of Eight’s proposal nor the White House’s desires are in legislative form yet, co-sponsors of the I-Squared Act say they expect the measure to get folded in when the time comes. “My view is that we can only make progress on immigration through a comprehensive approach that addresses the whole range of issues from path to citizenship, to family reunification, to agricultural workers, to due process concerns, to skill gap and high-skilled immigration concerns,” Sen. Chris Coons says. And the proposal “is not in competition with any effort,” Sen. Marco Rubio says.

MCCAIN DOESN’T DISAGREE — “High-skilled workers has always been part of our proposal; it’s always been part of our bill,” the Arizona senator told reporters. “We’ve always said when we laid out the principles that we want to give these young people who have Ph.D.s, that have the math and science, we want to keep them in the U.S. That’s always been part of the package.” Still, the comprehensive proposal hasn’t gotten detailed on STEM language, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, who’s playing traffic cop to some extent as the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is reminding reporters that the package isn’t a bill yet. But you can expect an immigration hearing the day after the State of the Union, he says.

SIREN: JUDGE DENIES APPLE BID FOR MORE SAMSUNG DAMAGES -- Reuters has the story on four late-night filings from Judge Lucy Koh: "Samsung Electronics Co. did not willfully infringe on some of Apple Inc.'s patents, a U.S. federal court has ruled, foiling Apple's attempt to ratchet up the $1.05 billion in damages it was awarded last August by a U.S. jury. ...

"Koh said the court could not enhance the damages 'given that Apple has not clearly shown how it has in fact been undercompensated for the losses it has suffered due to Samsung's dilution of its trade dress,' or, the look and feel of its products." She also denied requests from both sides for a new trial: http://reut.rs/T9l1XS

LAW ENFORCEMENT TO EMAIL PROVIDERS: FOLLOW THE RULES — Email providers rushing to disclose that they require a warrant before handing over electronic content need to remember that ECPA is the law of the land, top law enforcement advocates tell MT. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act establishes requirements — not guidelines — for when service providers must disclose content, FBI Agents Association President Konrad Motyka says. “Service providers are no different than any other group, and must follow the law as it is currently written.” They shouldn’t try to “short-circuit” the congressional process by establishing their own standards, he added.

--AND THEY AREN’T GOING QUIETLY: “We are definitely butting heads and rulebooks with both the email providers and the privacy advocacy groups. We are deferring to the Department of Justice to pursue any necessary legal sanctions to garner compliance,” Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association President Jon Adler says. (Email providers, remember, are hanging their hat on the Sixth Circuit ruling that ECPA is unconstitutional in allowing access to content without a warrant.) And if you expected a sea change in response to the tech companies’ disclosures, think again. Adler says law enforcement organizations are united against “the overreach of some of the proposals from the last session,” and will remain that way as ECPA reform comes around again — although, as your MT-er has previously mentioned, that could be delayed as Judiciary panels are busy with immigration and gun control.

SPEAKING OF GUN CONTROL — It’s the topic du jour on Capitol Hill, with the Senate Judiciary Committee convening a high-profile 10 a.m. that includes Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly and NRA President Wayne LaPierre. Observant tech players will watch for talk from witnesses and lawmakers of violence in video games and movies, but the key heading into the meeting may be what we don’t hear. LaPierre’s testimony, released ahead of the hearing, doesn’t touch on the subject — that’s a 180 from his unforgettable late-December press conference in which he blasted a “callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.” We’re tracking.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’ve got the Avett Brothers’ latest album on repeat. As you’d probably guess, we Live and Die with your tips and comments, so try to stave of the Winter in your MT-er’s Heart and shoot a note to abyers@politico.com, @byersalex and @POLITICOPro. Catch the rest of the team’s contact info after Speed Read.

NETFLIX CEO: WE’RE A PIRACY ANTIDOTE — The online video provider’s doors are getting busted down with content companies who want to license their shows to Netflix as part of an anti-piracy play, head honcho Reed Hastings tells MT. Having strong legal alternatives for viewers dampens down illegal streaming or downloading, he says — just ask Canada, eh? Three years ago, when the company was heading north, BitTorrent was the top use of the Canadian Internet, he said. But now Netflix is the top dog for the country’s Internet traffic, and BitTorrent traffic is “way down.” Don’t miss your MT-er’s piece with more from Netflix on what the VPPA update means and the fight — or lack thereof? — on data caps: http://politi.co/YgSpeq

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AMAZON STEPS UP LOBBYING ON NET SALES TAX BILL — Their latest filing says they’ve got nine new Patton Boggs lobbyists working the Hill — including former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott — over Sen. Dick Durbin’s Marketplace Fairness Act. The e-commerce giant has already had a pair of other firms, not to mention its own folks, lobbying on the measure, which would help make online sales tax rules uniform across the country.

--MORE FROM THE KINDLE-MAKER: Amazon closed the fourth quarter of 2012 with revenue up 22 percent to about $21 billion — but even the corresponding $97 million Q4 profit couldn’t put them in the black for 2012, where they lost $39 million in total.

BLACKBERRY 10: ONTARIO, WE HAVE LIFTOFF — Choose your cliché: It’s game day, sink or swim, now or never for RIM, who’s hoping its new BlackBerry 10 platform will spark a recovery. While the hardware- and software-maker has fallen behind Apple and Android in the consumer mobile space, it’s traditionally had deep roots in business — and particularly, in government. A few agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have moved toward Apple products over the past year, but RIM says it’s still got big hooks in Washington — and it hopes the platform, long touted and launched at a snazzy New York event today, will keep it that way.

CONSUMER GROUP TO LEIBOWITZ: GET SERIOUS ON DNT -- The FTC chairman will receive a letter from Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson today, calling for the agency to endorse legislation on a comprehensive “Do Not Track” standard. From the message: “You and your colleagues opted to rely on a self-regulatory process to implement Do Not Track, but alluded to the possibility of legislation if that process failed. Not surprisingly the self-regulatory effort to design Do Not Track is virtually dead in the water.” Simpson says enough is enough and wants to pull the plug on the W3C process. Read the full letter here: http://bit.ly/128mC43

FREE PRESS TRASHES LAZARUS HIRE -- Former Chief of Staff to Julius Genachowski Edward Lazarus was announced as the Tribune Company's executive vice president yesterday, and it didn’t take long for one media advocacy group to share its thoughts. “Maybe Lazarus's new job is just another unseemly example of FCC regulators cashing in at the companies they were once supposed to regulate,” Free Press President Craig Aaron said in a statement. “He may be just the latest to take a spin through the revolving door, but that doesn't make his move any less nauseating." Tribune CEO Peter Liguori, FWIW, touted Lazarus’s “broad legal experience,” in announcing the Tuesday hire.

TRUST AMONG THE ANTITRUST AGENCIES — Insiders applauded bolstered antitrust efforts between the Justice Department and FTC at a Tuesday event foreshadowing the issue in Obama's second term. Incoming Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer’s experience at the FTC, for example, should help with a sometimes tense relationship, said Janet McDavid, an antitrust lawyer who provided transition advice to the last three administrations. But they’re not all chummy yet. A DOJ statement on standards-essential patents this month excluded the FTC and did not refer to Google’s SEP order, said Andrea Agathoklos Murino, an antitrust lawyer who’s worked at both agencies. The two groups still have their “hiccups,” she added.

HAPPENING TODAY: CALIF. AG TO DETAIL CYBER THREAT — Kamala Harris will join the U.S. attorney from southern New York to talk Wednesday evening about what the private sector can do to partner with government in the battle against cybercrime. The officials will run the gamut of intellectual property issues, identity theft, hacking and more, and will also outline how business and law enforcement have to balance privacy concerns with their crime-fighting efforts. They go on at 5:30 p.m. at the Stanford Law School.

ALSO: IS AN IP TRANSITION NECESSARY? — That’s one of the questions posed to a panel on the evolution of regulation at the National Press Club this morning. Ex-FCC-er Blair Levin will grace the stage, as will AT&T Senior Executive Vice President James Cicconi and Wells Fargo Securities Managing Director Jennifer Fritzsche. Catch the livestream at 9:30 here: http://bit.ly/128m8e5

SPEED READ:

APPLE GRANTED TRADEMARK FOR RETAIL STORE: The third time is a charm for the iPhone maker, the Los Angeles Times reports: http://lat.ms/Vn59xv

BLACKBERRY 10 IS CRUCIAL TO RIM: Today's introduction is the biggest day at the Canadian company since it first unveiled the BlackBerry concept, The New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/Vn5kc9

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